Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

In Our Time

Discussion & Talk

Podcasts

Factual: History

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.

BBC Radio 4 LW

Melvyn Bragg

Lindy Grant

Nicholas Vincent

Julie Barrau

Simon Tillotson

In Our Time: Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine

28/01/2016

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Eleanor of Aquitaine

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Eleanor of Aquitaine, the most powerful woman of her time.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Eleanor of Aquitaine (c1122-1204), who was a ruler in her own right as well as married to the king of France and then to the king of England.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life, times and influence of Eleanor of Aquitaine (c1122-1204) who was one of the most powerful women in Twelfth Century Europe, possibly in the entire Middle Ages. She inherited land from the Loire down to the Pyrenees, about a third of modern France. She married first the King of France, Louis VII, joining him on the Second Crusade. She became stronger still after their marriage was annulled, as her next husband, Henry Plantagenet became Henry II of England. Two of their sons, Richard and John, became kings and she ruled for them when they were abroad. By her death in her eighties, Eleanor had children and grandchildren in power across western Europe. This led to competing claims of inheritance and, for much of the next 250 years, the Plantagenet and French kings battled over Eleanor's land.

With

Lindy Grant
Professor of Medieval History at the University of Reading

Nicholas Vincent
Professor of Medieval History at the University of East Anglia

And

Julie Barrau
University Lecturer in British Medieval History at the University of Cambridge


Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

In Our Time

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4